Advertising

Amazon PPC for Indian sellers: a TACoS-first framework

Most sellers judge Amazon ads by ACOS (ad spend divided by ad sales) and stop there. The problem is that ACOS only sees the sales an ad directly caused — it ignores the organic sales those ads help create. That is why we plan campaigns around TACoS instead: total ad spend divided by total revenue. Here is the framework we use.

Why TACoS is the number that matters

A healthy ad account lifts your organic rank, which brings in sales you did not pay for. When that happens, ACOS can look flat while your TACoS falls — a clear sign advertising is building a self-sustaining flywheel. If TACoS is rising while revenue is flat, spend is leaking. Track TACoS weekly and treat it as your north star.

A clean campaign structure

Complexity is where budgets die. Keep it simple:

• Sponsored Products — exact: your proven, converting keywords, bid to a target ACOS.
• Sponsored Products — discovery: broad and auto campaigns to find new search terms. Harvest winners into the exact campaign, add poor performers as negatives.
• Sponsored Brands / Display: once the basics convert, add these to defend your brand and retarget.

One product theme per campaign, tight ad groups, and a weekly negative-keyword pass will out-perform a sprawling account every time.

Setting bids without guessing

Start bids near Amazon's suggested range, then adjust on data, not hunches. Give a keyword enough clicks to judge it (a rough rule: wait for clicks equal to a few times your conversion rate before cutting). Raise bids on terms that convert below your target ACOS; lower or pause the ones bleeding spend with no orders.

Scaling without breaking margin

Scale by adding proven keywords and campaigns, not by blindly raising bids on everything. Before you increase budget, confirm the product's listing converts — ads amplify whatever the page already does, good or bad. Fix the listing first, then pour fuel on it.

If you sell across channels, remember advertising is only one lever. Our marketplace management service runs this weekly across accounts, and our Amazon management page covers the full picture.

The weekly routine

• Check TACoS and total revenue trend.
• Harvest new converting search terms into exact campaigns.
• Add non-converting terms as negatives.
• Nudge bids on winners up, losers down.
• Confirm budgets are not capping your best campaigns mid-day.

Do that consistently and your ad account compounds instead of just spending.